1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to call reporting services that enable subscribers to access incoming and outgoing call information related to completed and not completed calls.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:                Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)        Call Management Reports (CMR)        Calling Name Delivery (CNAM)        Central Office Exchange Service (CENTREX)        Customized Dialing Plan (CDP)        Direct Inward Dial (DID)        Direct Outward Dial (DOD)        End Office (EO)        File Transfer Protocol (FTP)        Graphical User Interface (GUI)        Generic Data Interface (GDI)        HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML)        HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)        Initial Address Message (IAM)        Local Area Network (LAN)        Off Hook Delay (OHD)        Personal Computer (PC)        Specific Digit String (SDS)        Service Control Point (SCP)        Service Switching Point (SSP)        Signaling System 7 (SS7)        Signaling Transfer Point (STP)        Terminating Attempt Trigger (TAT)        Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)        Wide Area Network (WAN)        World Wide Web (WWW)        
3. Background Information
Currently, subscribers to services within the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are able to obtain call reports about completed calls they have placed, but, in the limited form of telephone bills. When a call is placed by an originating caller and is connected to a called party, the telephone company connecting the call collects information about the call and incorporates it into a bill. The bill is sent to a telephone subscriber, typically at the end of a month, so that the subscriber can see details of the calls justifying the telephone company charges. A typical phone bill consists of information related to each call where a connection was established between the subscriber and the called party. This being so, because, telephone companies only charge for connected calls. The related call information for a particular call includes the called party's telephone number, the date and time the call was made, the duration of the call, and the cost of the call.
More recently, telephone customers have, additionally, been able to retrieve electronic versions of their bills in various forms. Some of these electronic versions even allow subscribers to select a number on their bill causing a reverse lookup of the number, thereby, revealing information about the called party. Despite these innovations, however, the call detail in billing information, even in these high-tech billing systems, is limited to providing information about completed calls the caller initiates.
Another use of call reporting information is to provide toll-free “800” service providers with call history and caller billing detail. In a typical “800” service scenario, an originating caller dials an “800” number, or other toll free number, to contact a representative of the organization with the “800” number. The cost of the call, instead of being charged to the caller, is charged to the “800” service subscriber being called. The “800” service provider, in turn, records each call and presents the “800” subscriber with a bill including information about the callers at the end of a billing cycle. This report is used by the “800” subscriber to learn about his client base and to ensure that the “800” service provider has not wrongly charged the “800” subscriber. But these reports, too, are limited to providing call related information about calls that have been actually connected.
A caller ID service attempts to provide additional caller detail to caller ID subscribers. Caller ID is a service that allows a called party to be aware of whom the originating caller is. Typically, the caller's number and other related caller information is presented to a called party by a display on the called party's phone while the phone is ringing. This display enables the called party to determine if he or she should answer the phone. This information, however, is not centrally stored or presented to the caller or called party in any form of consolidated report.
To a calling party, reports including calls not completed can be helpful. For example, a parent may wish to monitor all calls a child places. This information could be helpful to the parent when determining if the child is having a problem or needs help. For an employer, the number of calls that an employee may attempt could be useful in determining employee efficiency. Additionally, an employer could use this information to determine the most opportune time to reach a customer. Unfortunately, such information can not be realized by a subscriber given the current technology where unanswered or busy call information is not reported to the subscriber in a consolidated periodic report.
To a called party, reports including calls not completed can also be helpful. Businesses could greatly benefit if reports were available to them detailing calls that were attempted but not completed. Calls unanswered by a business or calls missed because a phone line was busy could mean lost revenues for a company. With information about potential customers that attempted to call but were unsuccessful, businesses could possibly later reach these missed opportunities. Further, the information regarding the unsuccessful callers could be combined with other information to create profiles about callers in specific regions. Moreover, the information could be used to determine periods where more help is needed to keep up with demand. Unfortunately, however, consolidated periodic reports including call unanswered or busy call information are not available to phone subscribers and such advantages cannot be realized.
Moreover, a disadvantage of today's call reporting systems is that one typically has to wait until the end of the month to access their call information. This is disadvantageous to businesses and individual subscribers since opportunities do not necessarily occur in monthly increments and do not last long. A customer could end up establishing a relationship with another company if the customer is not contacted within a reasonable time.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art, as described below.